


Saw It Coming

by VickeyStar



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: At this point, Like seriously., OC whump, This is some dark shit., Todd takes on too much, Todd whump, We just feel really, also fuck that finale, and if it did happen, and we got this idea, because MAGIC, but they dont have magic, cuz its a magic school, like what would happen, really - Freeform, school shooting, shitty right now, this is fucked up., very dark, youd think it would be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 03:15:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18541162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VickeyStar/pseuds/VickeyStar
Summary: Nobody saw it coming.Why would they?In a school of magic, why would anyone feel the need to bring a gun?





	Saw It Coming

**Author's Note:**

> (Our thoughts on the finale are at the end of the fic.)  
> Okay.   
> We're fucking pissed off, and our mental health is fucked up to high fucken hell right now.   
> So we wrote one of the darkest fics we will ever write.   
> Then we had Sleef's sibling go through it and make it slightly less dark.   
> This is the finished product.   
> Enjoy.   
> ~SleevesCakes/VickeyStar  
> PS: We might post a continuation of them taking care of Todd after the fact as another chapter if anyone asks for it.   
> Or if we want to.   
> But yeah please let us know if anyone wants to see that, you guys and your comments/kudos always manage to cheer us up   
> :)   
> Also if you need us we are always here to talk.

Nobody saw it coming.

Why would they?

In a school of magic, why would anyone feel the need to bring a _gun_?

~*~

Todd suffers through his classes, the professors barely able to use the little amount of magic the Library afforded them.

The professor finally growls in annoyance, dismissing the class when the cubes fall for the fifth time in the past five minutes.

Todd shrugs, smirking at some of his friends-but-not-really as they leave.

~*~

They had precautions, of course. Every school does.

Just instead of shutting the lights off and locking the doors, they had magic.

And then they didn’t.

~*~

He’s smiling as he waves goodbye, and the second his bedroom door shuts he can feel the frown form.

He checks his phone again, hoping for a message from Julia.

It’s not like Todd _expects_ to be involved, because when has _that_ ever happened, but a little explanation of what’s going on would be nice.

He remembers the others, Eliot and Margo, Quentin, Penny, Kady, and Alice.

(He hasn’t forgiven himself for forgetting Josh, even knowing that it was a powerful spell that forcibly erased his memories.

It just isn’t a good bro move.)

He sees that he has no new notifications except for a couple gaming apps telling him to get the daily bonuses, and he sighs as he puts his phone on sleep mode.

(Never shuts it off. Ever. Never ever.

Last time he did that… it didn’t end well.)

He spends the rest of the day going over his notes, eventually meeting up with some first years to help them understand exactly what the _fuck_ happened.

(Even though he isn’t too sure, himself.)

~*~

He has vague memories of drills, in elementary through high school.

Everybody moving to hide behind desks, teachers banging on doors from the outside just to make sure they were locked.

It took him two weeks to figure out why there were rectangles of colored paper taped to every door.

It took everyone else a lot longer.

~*~

The first quarter flies by, Todd spreading himself every which way, helping Dean Fogg, helping the students, trying to help the Magicians.

(When Julia or Margo ask for a book, he gets it, no questions asked.

It’s probably important.)

He hears about Gods, dying, and worries.

~*~

He once had to sit under his computer desk for two whole hours, because some stranger parked their car in the wrong place.

While the other kids cried in fear, whispering and huddling close to each other, he twisted his fingers into all kinds of shapes, making shadow puppets through the cracks of the window covers.

(Except when he looked at the windows, there wasn’t any light to be seen.)

~*~

He gets a phone call, from Margo.

She gives him an address and instructions, and it’s actually a relief when she tells him not to fuck it up.

He jumps to his feet, essay forgotten as he goes to find books on how to break curses.

~*~

Alright, he slacked a bit.

Todd took the role of the smiler, the one who kept the hope running.

He threw the party when Eliot couldn’t, trying to keep the smiles on everyone’s faces.

He got everyone involved, and honestly, he doesn’t know how this one slipped past his radar.

But she did.

~*~

He watches them from a distance, seeing them stand around the campfire.

Eliot is still leaning heavily on the cane Todd had found for him, sitting next to Alice as they all mourn.

Todd’s reminded of the black hole of sadness and grief he feels in his own stomach, breath leaving him as he remembers Quentin.

He considers joining them, if only for a moment, but quickly changes his mind.

Just because they’re his friends, doesn’t mean he’s their friend.

~*~

He spread himself too thin, after that, a giant tarp over everyone, trying to keep them dry.

He didn’t notice the one he left outside, drowning in the rain.

~*~

Todd juggles Dean Fogg’s responsibilities, as well as the classwork for the other Magicians, on top of his own.

They’re too wrapped up in their grief to really care, and he smiles and takes it, turning every paper in with different handwriting styles, making up excuses and covering for them during class.

The Monsters may be banished, but the Library still hasn’t been able to completely restore magic to everyone, and he gets it, really.

They’re rebuilding, recruiting hedge witches, even, trying to get themselves in order.

They just don’t have the _time_ to find the seven keys, go to the underground castle, and remove the syphoner.

He gets that.

(He’s planning to go and do it himself.)

~*~

He fielded questions from everyone, the first years asking who the group was, why they kept drinking in the living room, why the house always smelled of peaches and plums.

From the school board, demanding to speak to Dean Fogg.

Teachers, demanding explanations for the lack of attendance from those particular students.

(“A sickness doesn’t last this long, Todd.” He sighs. “This one does. I’m not sure they’ll ever fully recover.”)

She never reached out to him.

She never made a sound.

Asked for help.

Anything.

~*~

He’s leaving the front gate to the school, having just finished ~~his~~ Dean Fogg’s meeting with the School Board when a rabbit appears in front of him.

“In Fillory.” It says, and he sighs, moving to message the teachers not to expect them in class on his tablet.

Their replies are somewhat sarcastic, already used to him covering for them.

Another rabbit appears.

“All of us.”

“In Fillory.”

“All of us.”

“In Fil—”

He dismisses the rabbits, sending one back to sender with wishes of good luck.

A third rabbit appears.

“Research Dark King.”

He frowns confusedly.

Cue the fourth rabbit.

“Evil King in Fillory.”

Because _that_ narrows it down.

(Not really.)

The third rabbit disappears, and oops.

He must’ve said that out loud.

“Evil King in Fillory.”

He’s expecting the fifth rabbit.

“Don’t be a little shit.”

He looks up, praying to whatever the _fuck_ will listen for patience.

“Evil King in Fillory.”

“Don’t be a little shit.”

“I’ll see what I can find.” He tells the rabbits, and imagines the look on Margo’s face when both appear in front of her, repeating that one sentence, slightly off cue.

~*~

He saw her in the library, not The Library, but the school one.

She would stick to the outside of his study groups for the first and second year students, never completely engaging with the conversations but quick to take notes.

She stopped showing up at all some time after Quentin—

(He grieves.)

~*~

He’s in said library (the school one, and seriously, to the Library’s Librarians, _fuck_ them—) when the shooting supposedly starts.

All he knows is one moment, he’s reading the fifth Fillory book, the next, there’s a bunch of first years trying to get their shit together enough to cast a defensive spell with what’s left of the ambient magic.

“Guys, what’s going on?” He asks, alarmed as he sees the blood on their clothing.

“Some crazy bitch brought a gun!” Someone responds, suddenly dropping dead as multiple banging noises echo through the room and students fall, either dead or in pain.

Todd flinches back, immediately and idiotically putting himself between the young first years, facing the girl.

He racks his brain for her name, knowing he must’ve learned it at some point, c’mon, _think_!

She raises the gun, her shaking hands pointing it directly at his chest.

“Move.”

Her voice is shaking worse than her hands, the one word barely coherent as he sees the look in her eyes.

He wants to see madness, insanity, anything that could explain this sudden turn of events, but all he sees is sadness and hate.

“I can’t let you hurt them.” He responds, voice firm as the school librarian appears behind her.

She pauses for a moment, and he can see true regret in her eyes, until it’s gone.

“Okay.”

She opens fire, Todd feels a burning pain in his arm as he gets shoved to the side.

He falls to the ground, turning to see the first years that he had taught, the loyal _idiots_ , being shot down in front of him.

Their bodies fall on top of his own, and he feels like he’s being buried alive as he listens to them die.

~*~

Nobody saw this coming.

Why would they?

Todd was always making sure nobody felt the need to bring a gun.

~*~

He barely has the energy to drag himself out from under the bodies, long after she left.

He checks the rest of the campus, seeing the blood and the signs of a massacre.

He finds most of the teachers alive, hiding in Dean Fogg’s office.

_Cowards._

(He probably would’ve done the same thing.

No, now that he thinks about it, he wouldn’t.)

He gives the teachers things to do, call the School Board, search for any students, cough up any magic batteries to spread out and defend themselves in case she’s still on campus.

(He doesn’t think she is.

At least, not her soul.

His theory is confirmed when he finds her body, hole in her head in front of the school sign.)

He doesn’t know what to do, having already given the teachers (the ones who were trained for this, who were supposed to be able to _handle_ this—) tasks that would take care of everyone still alive.

So he heads to the Physical House.

Todd steps over the bodies, thinking, _that was Meghan,_ and _there’s Ian_.

He sits on the thankfully empty couch, staring at the blood on his hands as he feels the same sticky substance on the rest of his body.

His arm aches now, blood still slowly oozing out of the graze.

He hears the _whoosh_ of Penny’s traveler magic, ignoring the sudden presence of the Magicians.

“Holy fuck.” Penny’s voice is quiet, and Todd can only assume they’re in shock as they take in the damage.

He doesn’t look up, unconsciously moving his hands through the same patterns that he did when he was a child.

“Todd.”

He can’t hide the pained hiss when a hand lands on his shoulder, jostling the graze on his arm.

“Shit.” Alice curses, he hears her moving toward the kitchen.

The hand moves, its owner sitting next to him on the other side of his body.

The person puts their arm around Todd, and he leans into them, ignoring the murmurs of the people around them.

“What happened, Todd?”

Something shiny glitters from the corner of his eye, and he would recognize the rings on that hand anywhere.

“We didn’t see it coming, Eliot.”

His voice is wrecked.

Alice sits down, Julia and Kady moving to assist her as she cuts the sleeve off of his shirt, cleaning his wound.

“And why would we?”

His expression wavers, tears forming in his eyes.

“Why would anyone bring a _gun_ to Brakebills?”

 edn

 

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly man fuck that finale.   
> But (and we are in no way defending those fucking asshole producers) we'd be saying that if anyone died. Not just Q. We hate how he died. The message that death is the only way to believe you are worthwhile. Because fuck that. You are worth something. You matter. You are loved. ALways. Every moment of every day.   
> We hate what the producers did to the actors, especially Hale, who was so excited to be filming the scenes they filmed, hinting that we'd finally get Queliot, and that they'd finally be happy and the producers just fucking let him do that and it isn't his fault, it's the producers' fault because they thought progressive means killing the white guy.   
> And yeah, they could have killed Josh, but taht wouldn't have the same impact of killing any of the other characters.   
> (Honestly Josh is still a side character to us, just there to bring problems. There's no point in killing him if he's supposed to be a good guy (TM) and nobody actually likes him all that much)  
> We understand taht someone major had to die.   
> TV shows refuse to have taht any other way.   
> They couldn't kill the other castmates for fear of the race/sexuality/whatthefuckever biting their heads off, but they played it off so fucking badly that they ended up pissing everyone off, completely.   
> They tried to spin it "We killed the white guy!" but that's not what inclusion is.   
> We don't want dead white guys, we want more PoC and LGBT+ people.   
> (And anyone else who is being mis or unrepresented)   
> They decided that someone had to die.   
> They decided it would be Quentin.   
> That, we can accept.   
> the fact that they made his death be him wondering if he just fucking tried to kill himself is fucking stupid and the producers deserve to be shot.   
> The fact that Margo missed the battle by staring at a fucking fish is stupid.   
> The fact that Alice was made to have her entire purpose to be [his] is fucking stupid.   
> the fact that the Peaches and Plumbs scene is the last time Queliot actually fucking saw each other is fucking stupid.   
> The fact taht Julia's choice was taken away from her A-fucking-GAIN and made by a man is so motherfucking stupid.   
> (We love you guys and if anyone needs to talk or anything just let us know)


End file.
